User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
claud
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: February 23, 2002

Bottom Line:

Very good musical sub that also does HT. For most of us with average size rooms(mine's 13' x 17'), this sub is all you will ever need. I don't like auto-on so the remote is great.Had crossover bypass before most other subs on the market at the time of purchase. Not a cheap sub, but you usually get what you pay for.

This is my first subwoofer, and I'm completely satisfied with it, especially since I got it for well under list price. I used the FSR-12 with Magneplanar MG-III speakers initially, but recently got the MG-3.6, the bass panels of which are being driven by a Krell KAV-150a. Using an active crossover at 85 Hz/12 dB slopes (Velodyne crossover switched out), the blend is seamless.

I mostly wanted to relate what I found when trying different setups for the FSR-12, and I suppose these points would be relevant to other subwoofers also. (1) Anchor the unit to the floor as solidly as possible. Don't just plop it down on a carpeted floor! I made a base with downward-pointing spikes that penetrate through the carpet, and upward-pointing spikes that anchor into the bottom of the FSR-12 cabinet itself. I also stacked on 40 lbs of weights. Each of these measures individually made a MAJOR, immediately noticeable improvement in perceived speed and control. (2 Use a good quality, "fast" interconnect. I got some low-cost Mogami interconnect just to get started, then later tried some Straight Wire Rhapsody which had become surplus after a cable upgrade. The Rhapsody cable is too bright for my taste/system for general use, but sounded much tighter than the cheaper Mogami when used with the sub. Yes, cable CAN make a difference, even with a subwoofer. (3) Remove the grille cloth. This makes a much smaller difference than (1) or (2), but it is definitely noticeable if you are attuned to your system's sound.

So my subwoofer has no grille cloth and it has cast iron weights stacked on it. It's appearance is not as nice as originally designed, but it sounds like a completely different and vastly superior unit compared to the day I brought it home and just set it on the carpet. One last comment: as control over the bass got better and better, the initial impression was one of LOSS of low frequency response. The sound is now so much tighter that you don't get a huge sense of bass on as many recordings, but when loud, low bass is really there, it becomes a much more solid, physical presence in the room, with much improved low frequency detail.

4 stars overall, since I'm sure there are better subs from other companies, if not from within Velodyne's own product line.

I ordered this unit from SoundCity and was very happy with their customer support. It was delivered double-boxed on the day promised in good condition. As far as the performance of this unit I must say that it is well worth the money.<800 on sale. It is servo controlled so there is very little distortion. The only distortion I could hear is cabinet resonances which is easily cured by securing the front baffle to the sides of the speaker with screws. Being a sealed sub the pressure inside the box is too great for the design. I put two screws in each side of the box/front baffle and it was a difference between night and day. The Bass tightened up even more.Now for the heat overload protection circuitry problem. The protection circuitry engages for three possible reasons: 1. High amplifier temperature 2. Low voltage at input stage 3. Overexcursion of the wooferI assume the reason my goes into protection mode is due to the fact that I do like deep bass and being a sealed enclosure makes the amplifier work harder than a similar amplifier in a ported box. The amp gets very hot to the touch. FYI- the amplifier in the FSR-12 appears to be the same amplifier velodyne uses in the CT-120. Once you set the subwoofer set up and get it dialed in correctly these problems should go away- except for the heat on the heatsink. I only score 4 stars on overall because the neglect in craftmanship for the enclosure. Velodyne should try to correct this problem and then you would have a truely awsome subwoofer.

The FSR-12 goes down to an incredibly low 20hz with less than 1% distortion. Although that sounds like a quote from Velodynes literature, I can vouch for it. If you've never heard one of your favorite recordings on a sub of this caliber, you may be missing a great deal of presence in the music. I went through my entire cd, ld and dvd collection as though I hadn't heard them before. At times, you'll experience bass signals so low they'll make you nauseous. I'd recommend hooking this one up in a pre-out/main-in loop for best blending with your fronts.I'm only going to give a 4 star rating for now, but after some research with other subs, I'll make a final decision.